I have a direct debit from my Barclays sole account to our NatWest joint account. My pay goes into my account on the 15th. The direct debit goes out on the 22nd. The mortgage goes out of our joint account on the 25th.
Because the 22nd fell on a Saturday this month, the payment was not processed until Monday the 24th. A check at my local Barclays branch cashpoint showed that the money actually left that day. When I went to the NatWest on the 25th, they said that it had still not been received. Apparently it takes three days.
Three days??? Why? Surely these things are all automated on a computer and all that happens is that a few 0s and 1s move along some wires (possibly more 0s than 1s in my case).
Where is the money in the meantime? It isn’t in my sole account and it isn’t in our joint account – so where is it? I consider it to be my money all the time, yet it is nowhere where I can find it.
Today we have received a letter from NatWest, telling us that we have been charged £35 because there were insufficient funds in our account to cover the mortgage payment. Furthermore, the mortgage payment has not been paid, which has probably had an adverse impact on our credit rating.
On Monday, I will be writing to both banks. I want the £35 back from one or other bank. I want the mortgage to be paid ASAP. I want any damage to our credit score to be rectified. I want assurances this will not happen again.
And I’m going to copy the letter to the local trading standards office and to the Consumers Association.
Your money was probably still with Barclays – during the so-called ‘clearance time’ they use it to invest in the markets and make more money for themselves. Just in case they don’t have enough cash already.
I think it was Sweden where the people refused to accept slow transfers and protested – now an imediate transfer is imediate.
I’ve always found it to be really unfair, just think of all the money the millions of transactions make during those three days in interest, ask for that back too!
Best of luck with the letter. I had the same when we bought our current house, and that was between my current account and a mortgage account WITH THE SAME BANK!!!
Welcome to the wonderful world of UK banking. When I worked for Nat West in 1974 it took one day LESS to clear funds into your account than it does today. I have little time for the money grabbing bastards myself as you probably know. The building societies that converted are worse than the banks because most of them don’t even understand the fundamentals of the Banking and Finance Act. If by any chance you had cashed your mortgage out of a cash machine, it would have been debited on the Saturday, right there and then, even if it wasn’t officially a banking day.
Don’t forget to tell the bank you are charging them £35 to write your letter to them.
bAAAAAAAAAASTAAAAARDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS